Dave, What Would You Say You Do Here?: The DePaul Blue Demons 2020–2021 Season Preview Thingy

Season preview, part 2, electric boogaloo, someone help, I think my brain just experienced a power surge and did that thing where it flickered off and back on again.

Just like last time, I’ll be opining on some players, noting some very fun games that are currently scheduled, maybe talking some stats, take a guess about where they finish in the Big East next year, and maybe do some other nonsense.

The DePaul Blue Demons

LAST YEAR’S RESULTS

To quote good friend, DePaul alum, and noted Internet niche bit haver Ryan Witry (@ Vote4Witry on Twitter Dot Com), for the Blue Demons, it really looked like basketball was finally coming home in the non-conference season. 13–1 with wins at Minnesota, at Iowa, and against Texas Tech, with the only blemish being an odd home loss to Buffalo. DePaul was almost ranked! That is an actual sentence I can type out in the year of our dark god Cthulhu 2020!

And then Dave Leitao bottled it (there’s gonna be a lot of soccer language in this one, thanks Ryan, your mannerisms are starting to catch on). Dave had future NBA draft pick Paul Reed, two high performing guards in Charlie Moore and Jalen Coleman-Lands, and a highly touted freshman in Romeo Weems, and he done fucked it up. 3–15 in conference, finishing 16–16 and in the cellar of the Big East for what feels like the 10th year in a row, even though yes, I know it’s not.

However, never forget that DePaul beat Xavier to claim the last win in the Big East season at Madison Square Garden in the Big East tournament. Go on you Blues!

Anyways, somehow Dave has a miserable Big East record (49–91 for a .350 winning percentage) and then got an extension until 2024 because, as far as I can tell, the DePaul AD has brain worms and/or is corrupt as hell (I don’t know, read into it more, that’s a whole article in itself). So uh, get used to the Bad, DePaul, because I’m not sure there’s a way in which Leitao is the head coach and a good result happens. Sorry, calls em likes I sees them, whale biologist.

(Damn you if you didn’t get that Futurama reference, go watch that show).

IMPACT GUYS FOR NEXT YEAR

Options 1, 2, and 3: Charlie Moore. 15.5 PPG, 6.1 APG, with a %Possessions at just a hair over 26 and a top 35 Assist Rate in the country per KenPom. Basically the only known offensive commodity returning with the entry of Paul Reed in the draft and Jalen Coleman-Lands transferring. The downside? He only shot 40% from 2 and 32.1% from 3. Without the offensive prowess of Reed and JCL to back up his dynamic lead guard role, I’m not sure what else the roster has (besides a lot of transfers, but more on that in a second).

Really, the only two known commodities of any offensive caliber are rising sophomore Romeo Weems (8 points, 5 rebounds per game) and Jaylen Butz (10 points, 5.4 rebounds per game), with Weems seeing play at the 3 and Butz being versatile across the 4 and 5. It’s not the worst base to build around in the world, but there really isn’t anything about either guy that pops out as “STAR PLAYER HERE” stats without significant growth. Weems was highly sought after as a recruit alongside DePaul classmate Markese Jacobs (who sat out most of the last stretch of the year hurt), so DePaul fans will probably be putting their faith in one of those two to take a step forward.

And then there’s the transfer situation. DePaul landed one massively-lauded transfer, Valpo’s Javon Freeman-Liberty, and one highly sought after D2 transfer, Courvoisier McCauley (I have no FUCKIN’ clue how to pronounce that, but that’s a future Sam problem). McCauley averaged over 15 points a game on 41% 3 point shooting with over 160 career attempts; Freeman-Liberty averaged 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists a game to go with his 2.2 steals, earning All Missouri Valley 1st Team and All-Defensive Team Honors last season. He transferred back to Chicago to be close to sick family, but the NCAA is the NCAA, so we will see what the whacky and wild waiver situation is come fall. McCauley is coming from D2 and is, most likely, required to sit out a year. If both are eligible, DePaul’s outlook changes drastically (especially Freeman-Liberty). If not, well, I’m not sure how far Charlie Moore can drag this roster by himself. I did go to Marquette and have been a season ticket holder for 8 years, so I watched Markus Howard do it this season, but Moore is not Howard.

Thankfully, a known Good Player coming in that is immediately eligible is Ray Salnave, a Monmouth transfer who averaged over 14 points a game last season on 36% from 3. He may not be “elite,” but a constant presence on a roster otherwise filled with question marks and hopeful development will be nice to pair with Charlie Moore.

GAMES THAT SHOULD BE FUN

Can anything Dave Leitao does be classified as fun? I don’t know, you tell me.

Anyways, DePaul and Loyola renewed their series, so the Chicago Derby will be fun. I’d also like to watch any matchup between Charlie Moore and another elite lead guard, so DePaul/Creighton, DePaul/Villanova, and DePaul/UConn might be fun to watch guard duels, but I’m not sure DePaul as a squad can run with any of them overall.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Some thoughts from Mr. Witry himself:

“It’s hard to see there being an actual improvement on the court from the past season for a few reasons. Chief amongst them being the fact Dave Leitao just hasn’t gotten results in the Big East since he came back

losing Paul Reed is a huge loss, obviously given that he was an automatic double double for much of the season last year

Now I can’t remember all of the players who are leaving the program but I think a lot of DePaul’s hopes ride on getting consistent improvement from their younger guys. Romeo Weems has the highest ceiling of their underclassmen in my opinion and I’d hope and expect to see him continue growing as a player next season, whenever that may be”

You heard it here, folks.

He’s predicting a last place finish for the Blue Demons. I’m higher on them because both Georgetown and Marquette exist, and if Georgetown’s freshmen don’t immediately replace Akinjo and McClung, that team will struggle. Marquette is a massive enigma and has just as much potential to skyrocket to a Top 25 ranking as they do to not register 10 wins this season. Butler is also in an awkward spot. Considering the casual joking I’ve done at DePaul’s expense my entire fandom, I’ll give them the benefit this time, and say that hey, at least they don’t finish last.

DEPAUL PEOPLE TO FOLLOW ON TWITTER

Mr. @ Vote4Witry himself, of course

@ WeAreDePaul

@ stacdemon

@ VJVemu

That’s actually kinda all the people I know for DePaul, so if you have recommendations, let me know.